2025 WNBA Award Predictions

Who will take home the major WNBA awards in 2025? Read Fubo’s WNBA award predictions, including MVP and Rookie of the Year.

As the 2025 WNBA nears opening night the conversation starts with projections and predictions. Last season was the league’s historic 25th anniversary season that was filled with history from A’ja Wilson winning her record tying third MVP to rookies Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese taking the league by storm.

Heading into this season the league is as talented as ever led by Wilson, reigning Finals MVP Breanna Stewart, Defensive Player of the Year Napheesa Collier, Clark heading into her second season and Paige Bueckers leading a new crop of rookies. 

All four of those star players will be in the mix for MVP this season. Will Wilson get her fourth? Stewart a third? Can Clark or Collier join their peers with a first MVP win? Is there a wildcard out there ready to shock the league? 

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Rookie of the Year

2024 Winner: Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever

2025 Betting Favorite: Paige Buckers, Dallas Wings (-230)

Much like last season with Clark this award is built for a player like Bueckers. She comes in as not only the most talented perimeter player in the class, but with the opportunity to make plays with the ball in her hands. In Bueckers final season at UConn, with a target on her back every night, she finished the season with one of the most efficient seasons in basketball history. Not just college or in the women’s game. Basketball history. Bueckers finished with a 3.5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, 53-42-89 shooting splits averaging 19.9 points, 4.6 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game

One other to consider here is Aneesah Morrow of the Connecticut Sun (+3000), who could have a lot of opportunities this season.

Prediction: Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings (-230)

Defensive Player of the Year

2024 Winner: Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx

2025 Betting Favorite: A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces (+130)

This award may also be a prelude to MVP as well with the best three players in the WNBA also anchoring their teams defense as the best defenders in the league. Napheesa Collier (+300) won last year ending the two-year reign for Wilson (+130), who is the favorite to win this award for the third time.

Breanna Stewart (+1200) enters this season with the opportunity to join her peers with a Defensive Player of the Year Award. She has yet to win this award despite being a two-time MVP and anchoring a top three defense in five of her first eight seasons in the WNBA. With much better perimeter defenders in front of Stewart this season she has the opportunity to add another trophy to her mantle playing free-safety and putting up huge counting stats.

Prediction: Breanna Stewart, New York Liberty

Sixth Player of the Year

2024 Winner: Tiffany Hayes, Las Vegas Aces

2025 Betting Favorite: Tiffany Hayes, Golden State Valkyries (+300)

This award in recent years has been owned by a team with a top four record. In five of the last six years it went to a Las Vegas player from Dearica Hamby (2018, 2019), Kelsey Plum (2020), Alysha Clark (2023) and Hayes last season. The players that fit that bill this season include Leonie Fiebich (+800) of the New York Liberty, Sophie Cunningham (+1300) of the Indiana Fever, Dana Evans (+1500) of the Las Vegas Aces and Natisha Hiedeman of the Minnesota Lynx. All four teams will be pacing themselves across 40 games to give starters, stars and superstars as much support as possible.

Prediction: Leonie Fiebich, New York Liberty

Coach of the Year

2024 Winner: Cheryl Reeve, Minnesota Lynx

2025 Betting Favorite: Stephanie White, Indiana Fever (+155)

It is hard to argue with the betting favorite. White has won this award once already in 2023 leading the Connecticut Sun to a franchise record in wins one year removed from losing in the WNBA Finals. She takes over a team built to contend right now with Caitlin Clark as an MVP candidate along with Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell and Lexie Hull all returning. Indiana added DeWanna Bonner, Sophie Cunningham, Brianna Turner and Natasha Howard along with a few rookies for White to help this team make a leap.

Dallas’ Chris Koclanes (+2000) and Los Angeles’ Lynne Roberts (+1200) take over as first year head coaches with talented rosters. Both teams are in a position to make a jump from the bottom of the standings where they won nine and eight games respectively last season.

Prediction: Stephanie White, Indiana Fever

Most Improved Player

2024 Winner: DiJonai Carrington, Connecticut Sun

2025 Betting Favorite: Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever (+650)

What do the voters want with this award? Are they looking for a star making the jump to superstar? If so, Clark is the best bet here. Same for Angel Reese (+900).

Since 2018 this award has gone to a fourth or fifth year player who made a big jump statistically in six of the last seven seasons. Who meets that criteria this season? Rotation players from the 2022 Draft include NaLyssa Smith (+6000), Shakira Austin (+2500), Nyara Sabally (+6000), Lexie Hull (+10000), Veronica Burton (+3500) and Rae Burrell. From the 2021 Draft Michaela Onyenwere and Dana Evans meet the recent standard for Most Improved Player.

The other pathway for this award is a player coming back from injury or time away, like Cameron Brink (+1400) of the Los Angeles Sparks who missed nearly all of her rookie season. She joins a team with rising star Rickea Jackson, Olympian Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby who could be a wildcard in the Western Conference. Brink feels more likely than any of the fourth or fifth year players in a position to break out.

Prediction: Cameron Brink, Los Angeles Sparks (+1400)

Most Valuable Player

2024 Winner: A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces

2025 Betting Favorite: A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces (+200)

In each of the last two seasons the MVP conversation has centered around the trio of Wilson, Stewart (New York) and Collier (Minnesota) with one wildcard. Last season the wildcard was Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark and Connecticut Sun veteran Alyssa Thomas two seasons ago. Wilson took home her third MVP last season and Stewart her second two seasons ago. This season Las Vegas will be much more aware of Wilson’s workload to avoid running out of gas in the postseason. She is coming off an historic statistical season and her third MVP, but fell short of another WNBA Finals run. Las Vegas added Jewell Loyd to help shoulder the offensive load alongside Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young. That should take a bite out of Wilson’s work load and statistics with an eye on a third championship in four seasons.

Stewart is also playing on a more complete team coming off winning her third WNBA Championship. New York added Natasha Cloud to replace Courtney Vandersloot. If healthy New York has the potential to be a defensive juggernaut with a well-balanced offense.

That opens up an opportunity for a first time MVP winner in either Collier, Clark or even Thomas if she finds chemistry on a new team. Collier continues to get better with each season finishing fourth and second in MVP voting. She is coming off winning Defensive Player of the Year while finishing top six in the WNBA in points, rebounds, steals and blocks per game. Minnesota is setup to be one of the best teams in the WNBA again after coming up one win short of winning the championship. Collier enters this season with the profile of a future MVP. However, this award truly is a toss up between Wilson, Stewart (+650) and Collier (+500), with Clark (+235) as a wildcard.

Prediction: Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx

All-WNBA Teams

2024 First Team: Clark (Indiana), Collier (Minnesota), Stewart (New York), Wilson (Las Vegas) and Alyssa Thomas (Connecticut)

The trio of Collier, Stewart and Wilson are written pretty firmly in pen for First Team All-WNBA as long as they stay healthy. They are likely to contend for Defensive Player of the Year, MVP and Finals MVP this season. It gets interesting with the other two spots. Clark could very well be back on this team again. Thomas (Phoenix Mercury) is less likely playing on a new team and in her 12th season. She also has to contend with teammates Satou Sabally and Kahleah Copper who are contenders themselves. Looking to make First Team All-WNBA are the Dallas Wings’ Arike Ogunbowale, New York’s Sabrina Ionescu, Seattle Storm guard Skylar Diggins-Smith (Seattle Storm), Las Vegas’ backcourt of Jackie Young and Jewell Loyd, and more.

This year the First Team All-WNBA will be 80% the same as last season with Clark, Collier, Stewart and Wilson joined by the best scorer in the WNBA, Ogunbowale.

All-Defensive Teams

2024 First Team: Carrington (Connecticut), Collier (Minnesota), Stewart (New York), Wilson (Las Vegas) and Eli Magbegor (Seattle)

In all likelihood this team will look very similar again. Collier, Stewart and Wilson are the three best defenders in the WNBA regardless of position. All three are locks here baring injuries much like First Team All-WNBA. The other two slots could be filled with several talented defenders from Carrington and Magbegor who made the team last season, Los Angeles’ returning Cameron Brink, Brittney Griner in her first season with the Atlanta Dream, Minnesota’s Alanna Smith, the Indiana Fever’s do-it-all Aliyah Boston, Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas and on and on.

I’ll go with two guards in Natasha Cloud who will have the opportunity to be the point of attack defender with New York and Skylar Diggins-Smith, who when locked in, is as good any defender in the WNBA.

All-Rookie Teams

2024 First Team: Clark (Indiana), Rickea Jackson (Los Angeles Sparks), Angel Reese (Chicago Sky), Kamilla Cardoso (Chicago) and Leonie Fiebich (New York Liberty)

This is likely to have the biggest variance of any prediction. Unlike most professional leagues several first round picks don’t make it out of camp and on a roster. The safest bet here is Paige Bueckers (Dallas Wings), the predicted Rookie of the Year alongside four rolls of the dice. For the next three spots, let’s roll with teammates Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen (Washington Mystics) along with Saniya Rivers (Connecticut Sun), who will likely receive early opportunities as well on rebuilding teams. Both Hailey Van Lith (Chicago Sky) and Sarah Ashlee Barker (Los Angeles Sparks) are fun picks for the fifth slot. Van Lith is in a position to succeed playing alongside former LSU teammate Angel Reese again and weaker backcourt.

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